[IBIS-Users] Questions Regarding Bird 75.8


Subject: [IBIS-Users] Questions Regarding Bird 75.8
From: Timothy Coyle (Timothy.Coyle@nsc.com)
Date: Tue Jan 07 2003 - 08:29:41 PST


Hello,
I have been trying to follow along with the multilingual model discussions.
I have read through the bird and have some comment/questions.
My comments are more towards the purpose of the bird rather than technical
content.

 It seems the purpose of this bird undermines what IBIS was originally
intended for: an adequate substitute for SPICE. (for most situations) This
bird
seems to be the death of IBIS. Why would I bother using IBIS at all when I
can use SPICE? Was the intention to use faster, less complex IBIS "blocks",
combined with SPICE "blocks" for the more complex parts? A vendor can right
now give out encrypted SPICE models. Why try to include these SPICE models
into a complex IBIS format? If the goal is to try to tie together the
"best" of IBIS, SPICE, and hardware languages I'm not sure that is the
scope of the IBIS spec.
Most vendors don't want to give out SPICE models, even if they are
encrypted. Will this bird force the hand of vendors? Once end users realize
what this bird can do,
won't they want the original SPICE model or hardware language code for
every device? IBIS is merely a "translated" SPICE model. Why use imitation
when you can have
the real thing?

I also question the need for this bird. I think this bird takes a huge
leap, and the gap left behind will swallow the IBIS community. I believe
it was
only last year at DesignCon where several papers were presented showing how
many rudimentary errors there were in IBIS files on the web. To this
day, I do not know of any IBIS files that are on the web that are
accompanied by any correlation documentation. To me, IBIS, as a standard,
does not have
the respect that it deserves. It is constantly being misused and abused.
And while an enhancement bird like this might be beneficial, I would think
that the current
state of IBIS would garner more attention.

As a model creator myself, I find the scope of this bird confusing, and I
find the future of IBIS questionable.

Regards,
Tim

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